Pulse Report January 31, 2012

One of the students receives his diploma from the Honorable Atem Yaak Atem, South Sudan's Deputy Minister of Information.
Pulse Report, Jan 31, 2012

Self-reliance in South Sudan

JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN- HISG has stepped in to assist the brand new nation of South Sudan in developing local businesses by training individuals from the area around Juba. The training session required that the students research local businesses in the area around Juba, and the students found that almost all of the businesses were run by foreigners. These foreign business owners were suspicious of the students' questions and somewhat unwilling to help. This reaffirmed the need to help the class develop their own business ideas and experience, so they can become the support structure for the young nation. South Sudan was just recognized as an independent country in July of 2011, and the preceding decades of conflict and political instability had made things like education and economic development an afterthought to mere survival. The business training course is a start in reversing this trend, as every student earned a profit in his or her chosen business. They are positioned to lead their communities and the country toward self-reliance.


Nigerian Families Forced to Evacuate

Conflict in Nigeria between extremist groups and the Nigerian military has forced 90,000 people to evacuate their homes. Entire neighborhoods have been deserted as people try to get away from the violence. Many of these have taken refuge with relatives or friends, but HISG is working with an organization to help families in Yobe state in Northeastern Nigeria that are still in dire need. These are families that have been overlooked by other relief efforts. HISG will be helping them by providing immediate relief in the form of food, water, other basic necessities, and trauma counseling until they can find a long term solution for resettlement. If you would like to give through HISG to help these families in the midst of uncertainty, please click here.


Global Changing Challenges Conference

HISG will be participating in an International Disaster Response and Community Transformation Conference in Surabaya, Indonesia in April. The Global Changing Challenges conference is hosted by Humanitarian Assistance Network for Disaster (HAND) and is a progression of concepts discussed at the Hong Kong Starfish Community Expo that was held in October. This spread of ideas, followed by communities actively engaging together in community development and disaster response is exactly the purpose of the Starfish Community. HISG is glad to be able to support HAND as they promote cooperative disaster response and sustainable development in Southeast Asia. If you would like to join HISG at the Global Changing Challenges conference, registration information is online here.


Recommended Resources

HISG has listed on our website some of the books that we reference frequently in different training sessions around the world. Each one of these books offers insights and ideas that have shaped our approach to partnerships, networking, information sharing, and humanitarian relief. HISG gets asked about different book recommendations all the time, so we've posted the list it under the About HISG section of HISG.org. You can find it online here: http://hisg.org/about-hisg/recommended-resources/




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